Easy and efficient access to information has become essential to maintaining an effective organization. Most information is stored and accessed from discrete sources on internal networks where the organization's financial and document systems are maintained. However, because of increased use of the Internet and newsfeeds, the demand for external information has also grown. To access these different sources of information, a wide variety of search and retrieval systems are used. However, many systems often fail to deliver information which is relevant to the specific needs of each user. Furthermore, many systems are limited by their inability to traverse different platforms and operating systems to search multiple sources of information and deliver the information to a single location. These limitations are counterproductive to the user's needs for an easy and efficient method of accessing information across multiple platforms.
Many existing search and retrieval systems require the user to specify a query statement on search criteria. Typically, such systems enhance the user supplied query using word associations similar to a thesaurus. However, because these word associations are generic, these systems often do not focus the search to the specific needs of the user. Consequently, for the search to yield germane information, the user typically either sifts through the information to determine its relevancy or performs several iterations of the search each time refining the search strings. This process is time-consuming and inefficient.
Similarly, some systems allow users to personalize their search and achieve a high degree of specificity. However, the user must learn and use complex search syntax that is often difficult for the user to understand, search iteratively, and carefully craft the query in order to obtain specific results. For example, many search systems require the user to input search strings using Boolean operators. Hence, for the search to be effective, the user must be proficient with the usage of Boolean operators. Otherwise, the search may not produce useful information and may be too time consuming.
Another problem with many current search systems is that they require individual user-initiated queries, instead of providing a flow of highly relevant information on numerous topics. Separate queries are usually required for separate topics, and these queries need to be repeated by the user at appropriate time intervals. This need to initiate a separate query for each topic of interest further lengthens the process and exacerbates inefficiency.
Furthermore, many existing search and retrieval systems are limited to searching certain sources of information. This severely confines the usefulness of these systems because users are often required to perform the same searches on different systems to access all potential sources of information, both internal to and external to the user's system. The inefficiencies inherent in this process are compounded in light of the inability of most systems to retrieve information relevant to the needs of the user, and the need for the user to initiate separate queries for each topic of interest.
No system currently exists that retrieves a flow of information from sources originating from multiple platforms and operating systems while ensuring its relevancy to the user. While users currently have access to many sources of information for managing their operations, the sources of information are varied. Organizations need access to a wider range of information and an ability to tailor that information to the specific needs of the user. An information system is needed wherein all potential sources of information can be easily and automatically searched, and only relevant information is retrieved and displayed to the user.
The present invention provides a system for search and retrieval of electronic objects, the objects including electronically encoded information. The system is made up of at least a searching subsystem, which includes one or more electronic lexicons in a memory within the system, and a format filter subsystem coupled to the searching subsystem. The electronic lexicon provides predefined search query elements that are contextualized for specific communities, to identify objects that are relevant to the selections of specific individuals. The format filter subsystem includes several format filter modules that operate to identify a format of an electronic object and then select a format filter module that will enable the system to search the object using the search logic elements within the lexicon.
The present invention also provides for a method for search and retrieval of electronic objects, including identifying a format of an object to be searched, selecting a format filter module that is configured to enable searching, and searching the object using predefined search elements that are found in an electronic lexicon. An aspect of another embodiment of the method is that retrieved objects may be delivered to the user in a single viewing format.